Dumont Cup - Ski The East - Phunkshun

After arriving back in the States and landing in Boston, Robby and I were happily greeted by Alex Hackel and his dad Evan. That night we drove up to Sunday River, and struggled as hard as I could to stay awake to avoid jet lag. Luckily the next day was a down day, and gave us some time to adjust a bit to the new schedule.

First meal back in the states, thanks to Evan Hackel

That day we didn’t do too much, except played Risk. This was the first time I had ever played that game, and certainly wasn’t the last time that week. After enjoying some good lounging around, waiting for friends to show up, catching up with friends while eating some of Evan’s amazing cooking, it was finally time for bed. The next day was our practice day for the Dumont Cup. This was definitely one of the craziest slope courses I’ve gotten to ride on. Featuring so many crazy and unique rail features, followed by 3 massive jumps. So for my practice I just tried to get a feel for the course and figure out my speed. After practice it was back to the Hackel’s condo for more amazing food and company.

Dumont Cup rail section

The following day was the Am Jam qualifiers. The weather wasn’t too amazing, so it luckily made it that you didn’t have to throw down too crazy at all. We all ended up getting around 3 runs, thankfully I landed all of my runs, and happy to get through to the next round with a 7th place finish in the qualifier. The next day I wasn’t so fortunate. During the semi’s on both of my runs I attempted to do a right-side double cork 1260 on the final jump, but had some troubles and came up short. Always frustrating to not land a run during a contest, especially when it’s the last jump both of your runs. The rest of my day was spent hanging out and rooting on some of the buddies. Super hyped to see Evan McEachran, Robby Franco, and Alex Hackel all do well. In the end the podium for the event went Gus Kenworthy, Nick Geopper, and Bobby Brown.

Cork 7 during morning practice. Photo by: Pete Arneson

Next day was a much needed downday/chill day for everyone, filled with two long games of Risk, swimming, and getting ready for a shoot with Ski The East. George Watts and the Ski the East crew came up to Sunday River for a couple days to film an edit. The first day of filming I opted out, I had thought all day that I was going to be leaving to fly back to Colorado. Since the conditions weren’t the best, I wanted to take it easy. Then while packing to fly back, I found out that I didn’t have to fly out and decided to stay an extra day to film jumps with everyone. Easily one of the best decisions I’ve made in a long time. The following day was one of the, if not the best day of my season so far. Started off with an 6:00 AM jump session with sled and cat laps, then after a quick break to Dunkin’ Donuts we all headed back to the hill to jump more. After getting some good shots, I tried to work on a couple tricks, and thankfully was able to land a new trick. By the time it was said and done we skied off the hill at 4:00 PM, the first ones on the hill, and the last to leave. That second day everyone was killing it, and I’m so excited to see all the shots that will come from it.

Such a fun sunrise shoot/day with Ski The East

Robby Franco mid nose butter cork 7

The following day we traveled to Boston, and the next morning flew back to Colorado for a Phunkshun team shoot. Had a blast out in Breckenridge with the boys, and looking forward to when that edit is released as well.

Fun day of skiing with the Phunkshun boys!

Had such a fun time skiing back at Breckenridge. Now i'm back home in Spokane for a short trip. Hope everyone has awesome week.